1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to, but are not limited to, electronic devices and, in particular, to the field of electronic device manufacturing.
2. Description of Related Art
In the current state of electronics, electronic devices such as microprocessors are generally fabricated from silicon wafers. The silicon wafers that are used to form these electronic devices typically undergo many process operations before being split into many pieces of dice (e.g., chips). Each of the chips or dice that are formed typically embodies an electronic device. The operations that are performed on the wafer during the overall fabrication process includes operations to form various electronic components (e.g., conductive interconnects, transistors, resistors, and other components) as well as operations to shape and configure the wafer.
During these operations, which may include various wafer thinning or polishing operations, the wafer is usually coupled to a substrate holding structure such as a support substrate using an adhesive. Once the various operations are completed, the wafer is decoupled from the substrate holder and the adhesive removed. Because of the increasingly smaller sizes and sensitivities of the electronic devices being manufactured from these wafers, the cleanliness and the absence of defects of these wafers becomes an important factor in producing high manufacturing yields.